The novel is 400 pages in Spanish, and Marias writes from a woman’s perspective, I believe for the first time in his career as a novelist. It’s about her obsession with a couple that appears happy, and who suddenly disappear (this detail being given, typically for Marias, on the first line).

Here’s a line from the book, quoted in the article, a typically Marias-esque sentiment: “Son más los crímenes desconocidos que los registrados e infinitamente mayores los que han quedado impunes que los castigados.” Roughly: There are many more unknown crimes than known, and infinitely more have gone unpunished than redressed.

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Great news. Just a suggestion for an alternate and, I would say, more faithful translation (since the present one seems to elide an important nuance: the second clause builds and at the same time departs from the first–curious construction):

“There are many more unknown crimes than known, and infinitely greater are those that have gone unpunished than those that have been.”

This is indeed wonderful news; let’s hope the superb Margaret Jull Costa can be persuaded to drop everything and get down to work on it as soon as possible. And there are still three early novels which haven’t been translated: Los dominios del lobo; El monarca del tiempo and El siglo.